SoundJaw Unlimited Fixes Your iPad’s Backward Speaker [Review]

Aside from being fatter and heavier than the the last-gen model, and running hot, and taking like a year to charge, the iPad is almost perfect. Apart from all those problems, of course.

But while those issues all stem from jamming a multi-million-pixel display into a mobile device, the iPad’s speaker is another matter. It sounds just fine — if you’re standing behind the iPad that it.

The SoundJaw Unlimited — itself a sequel to a thinner product — fixes that. And fixes it good.

The SoundJaw is a little plastic scoop that clips onto the bottom corner of the iPad (or any other device with an oddly-located speaker) and reflects the sound back at the user. Thus you can lower the volume of movies and music, and avoid annoying anyone and everyone else around you.

The Good

For a tiny plastic widget, the SoundJaw makes a huge difference. I’ll say it right now: if you ever get annoyed with the iPad’s rear-firing speaker, just go an buy one already — it’s only $14. You can test how well it works right now: just cup your hand over the speaker and see how much louder and clearer it gets. The SoundJaw is just like that, only you don’t need to use a hand.

It’s small and light enough to keep in a pocket, and the new design (more on that in a second) lets it work with not just the iPad, but the iPhone, various Kindles pretty much any tablet or smartphone you like.

It even fits over many thin cases, and underneath some thicker ones.

The Bad

Because it’s designed to have a universal fit, the new SoundJaw is less tight on the iPad, and also moves around a little in use. It won’t fall off unless you jostle the iPad inside a bag, but neither does it disappear — the first iteration could be left on the iPad 2 pretty much all the time.

This isn’t really a bad thing; it’s just a design choice. And for all the reasons listed above, it’s a tradeoff I’m more than happy to take.

The only real downside is that the SoundJaw is easy to lose, but only because it’s black and tiny — both of which can also be considered features.

The Verdict

Like I said: if you think this might be useful for you, then buy one. It works great to use yourself, and you can also hand it to a friend to stop their Skype call or YouTube from annoying the hell out of you. And while the design is likely to fit your future iDevices just as well as it fits your current ones, the low price means that even if Apple fixes its embarrassment of a speaker with the iPad 4, you’ll only be out $14.

About the author:

Charlie Sorrel is the Reviews Editor here on Cult of Mac. Follow Charlie on Twitter at @mistercharlie.

ElVox

I got one through kickstarter, and it’s a great thing to have…makes watching videos possible without ear/headphones in a not-so-quiet place…I love my SJ, and with my current ipad case (a very tight folio case by Targus) it can stay on 24/7 without it falling nor being too conspicuous…it’s probably a millimetre outside the bottom of the case, so…unnoticeable even in my laptop’s bag. 4.8/5 from me.

hanhothi

Or you could get a Samsung! They have the speakers on the front, where they should be!

snkrsfx

I have always taped a bent playing card to the back of my iPad…and now doing it to my iPad mini. What’s out there for the Mini?My iPad 2 is collecting dust and now I would love to have something small and sleek for the little guy.